Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Amazon misses the Target

Last year I ordered Plant Daddy's Christmas gift from Amazon.com. They promised they'd ship within 2 days.

After they had my charge card number though, they sent word that they'd been delayed and would not ship on time.

After waiting 3 weeks, I ran out to Lowe's and found a similar item so I wouldn't be shut out for Christmas.

(Amazon got the order here on the very last shipping day possible before the world closed up for Christmas. I was stuck with 2 copies. I was not going to screw over Lowe's with a return after they had saved me from a shut out.)

I remembered how bad Amazon.com was last year and will never order from them again.

I went to Target.com yesterday to order a gift and guess what???They are partnering with Amazon.com.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Spring Project

I started a new strawberry jar mosaic yesterday...but quickly gave up. It's 87 degrees outside. Is this November? Man, it's hot. Missed a record high by only one degree. Good for the cucumbers, bad for my sweat glands!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Turkey Julienne

That fart-like aroma fouled my nose as cold, congealed, leftover Thanksgiving turkey suck-plopped from the Tupperware onto the cutting board. I poked at it, begging the chef-inside-my-head to transform this unappealing collage into a supper.

Casserole? Soup? Nothing seemed inspiring.

“Turkey Julienne!”

November 1961 had awakened from deep within my subconscious.

“Need help with the menu?” Mother asked, handing me a garnet carte du jour. Resting after Black Friday shopping, we sat in an elegant, big city restaurant at a table with a cream linen cloth. A chic, Jackie Kennedy admirer, Mother wore a burgundy suit with matching pillbox hat.

“I’m nine. I can pick supper by myself,” I huffed and shook the gold tasseled cord against the menu spine. Mother frowned as she dug into her purse for a pack of Tarrytons.

Opening the boards, I scanned the parchment inside. Unlike the mimeograph menu at the hometown Rexall lunch counter, this bill of fare was urban regal. This was no hamburger and Coke-a-cola joint.

Paragraphs were justified, top to bottom, left to right, between crisp margins. Each entrée description was three lines, no more, no less. They were written in cursive and I could barely read these letters flowing with flourish like art nouveau.

Then I spied the word: “Julienne”.

The capital “J” had more loop de loops than the top of St. Basil’s Cathedral. Invitations from Versailles surely paled against this seductive, delicious design. Whatever “Julienne” was, I had to eat the food with the gorgeous capital “J”.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Dated

All the shoppers at Publix were in a panic. It was crowded. Eight check out lanes were jammed! Hustle! Hustle!

Oh no. It was just the pre-Thanksgiving market run.I was there because I’d forgotten the celery. Nargh!

So I’m standing in the back of the store, eyeing the Entenmanns’s fruitcake, which I totally love. I am trying to calculate how much time I’ll have to spend on the treadmill if I eat one (one cake, not one slice! Duh!) Anyway…

A lady comes up the aisle wearing a peach and turquoise and purple nylon jog suit. My first thought is…”She looks dated. That’s so ‘80’s!”

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Mosaic Address Sign

I tried to make a mosaic address sign to put out by the front gate when the UPS man is expected and needs to find my house and deliver my Christmas gifts!!

The project went wrong from the start. And despite two re-starts...that is I scraped all the tesserae off and re set the pattern...anyway I couldn't get it right. I put it in the dumpster this afternoon. Grrr.

Plant Daddy and I set the mosaic Christmas tree up yesterday. Yay! Looks nice.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Cheap thrills

I was distressed after throwing away a perfectly good pair of shorts on Friday. Sigh.Then life got worse…I got my charge card bill.

I was a good girl except where I went to Lowe’s and bought a new rug for the living room. Nargh!

Mind you, I have not had a new rug since 1984, but $200 on my charge bill for an 8 by 12 burgundy colored area rug…well, I can’t take the stress.

I do feel good about the coupons I clipped today. I got $9.50 towards the Thanksgiving feast and…here’s the best…Five FREE cans of cat food. Gosh, I hope Zeus will eat Mighty Dog…Hmmm…

We have lots of green beans and cucumbers from the garden. I wish the bell peppers would develop. Also there are 3 or 4 pineapples very close to ready and we harvested the first persimmon yesterday. The citrus is coming on nicely too.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Freshness Dating

Little Mind Escape graduated from The Berries High School almost 7 years ago.

She got out of high school with a diploma, and she collected enough credits for TWO VoTech Certificates.

One VoTech certificate was for Office Business Systems…in case she ever wants to be a secretary.

The other was in Culinary Arts…in case she ever wants to work as a cook at Sonny’s Big Boy Bar-B-Que Restaurant.

While she was studying Culinary Arts, I took a bunch of students to a Restaurant Convention in Orlando. There I discovered a unique product for kitchen managers.

This product dated your food. It was stickers with dates printed on them and reminded you how long your product had been in the fridge. What a great idea!

I immediately began to use a magic marker to label my food. After all, do YOU know when you opened that jar of Miracle Whip? Probably not.

This way after a month, I throw the Ranch Dressing/Spaghetti sauce/jalapeno peppers out.

I decided today that I need to start writing the date of purchase on my clothes.

For example, look at these green shorts. I have had them at least 12 years.I think I could get another year or two out of them before the crotch dissolves…

Okay, Okay…you see why I need to go to a date recording system.

I slipped on a shirt this morning that is…well, old. I like this shirt because it is long sleeved and warm and it is blue. It makes my eyes look deep. But…I have had it minimum ten years…and it was a hand me down from my sister before that.

The fit is bad. It has stretched so much that I could take it in at least 4 inches…on each side. The sleeves are pilled and there’s a tear at the collar. Yet, somehow it would be wasteful to toss it.

I think today I will finally throw these shorts away. Maybe in the spring, I’ll toss the shirt….